Freddy
Freddy Krueger Freddy Krueger is a fictional character from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill children and teenagers in their dreams, which ultimately results in their death in the real world. However, whenever he is dragged into the real world, he has normal human strength and vulnerability. He was created by Wes Craven, and has been portrayed by Robert Englund in all of the Nightmare on Elm Street films, as well as the television series. Krueger is undead, and can attack his victims from within their own dreams. He is commonly identified by his burned, disfigured face, red and dark green striped sweater, brown fedora, and trademark metal-clawed brown leather glove. Wizard magazine rated him the 14th greatest villain, the British television channel Sky2 listed him 8th, and the American Film Institute ranked him 40th on its "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" list. Robert Englund has said many times that he feels that the character represents neglect, particularly that is suffered by children Appearances Freddy Krueger is the primary antagonist in all the Nightmare on Elm Street films, and was officially killed off in part six, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. The character was brought back in Wes Craven's New Nightmare by Wes Craven, who had not worked on the film series since the third film. The silver screen is not the only place Freddy Krueger has appeared; there are literary sources that have expanded the universe of Freddy, as well as adapted the films and adjusted various aspects of Krueger's backstory. The character has also hosted his own television show, Freddy's Nightmares, which was an anthology series similar to The Twilight Zone. In 2003, Freddy battled fellow horror icon Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th film series in the theatrical release Freddy vs. Jason, and subsequently appeared in the comic book sequel Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash Films Freddy Krueger’s first appearance was in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The story focused on Freddy attacking Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and her friends in their dreams, successfully killing all but Nancy. Krueger’s back-story is revealed by Nancy’s mother, who explains he was a child murderer whom the parents of Springwood killed after Krueger was acquitted of police charges on a technicality. Nancy defeats Freddy by pulling him from the dream world into the real world, and setting up a series of booby traps, finally stripping him of his powers when she stops being afraid of him. Freddy returned in the sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), terrorizing the Walsh family, who had moved into Nancy’s old home. Freddy possesses the body of Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton), using his body to kill. Jesse is saved by his girlfriend Lisa (Kim Myers), who helps Jesse fight Krueger's spirit. Wes Craven returned to give Freddy life for a third time in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). In the second sequel, Freddy is systematically killing the last of the Elm Street children. The few remaining children have been placed in the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, for reasons of attempted suicide. Nancy Thompson arrives at Westin Hills as a new intern, and realizes the children are being killed by Freddy. With the help of Dr. Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson), Nancy helps Kristen (Patricia Arquette), Joey (Rodney Eastman), Taryn (Jennifer Rubin), Kincaid (Ken Sagoes), and Will (Ira Heiden) find their dream powers, so they can kill Freddy once and for all. Neil, unknowingly until the end, meets the spirit of Freddy’s mother, Amanda Krueger (Nan Martin), who instructs him to bury Freddy’s remains in hallowed ground in order to stop him for good. Neil completes his task, but not before Freddy kills Nancy. The character’s fourth appearance in film came with A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988). This time, Kristen (Tuesday Knight) unwittingly releases Freddy, who immediately kills Kincaid and Joey. Before Kristen is killed she transfers her dream power to pull others into her dreams to her friend Alice (Lisa Wilcox), who begins inadvertently providing victims for Freddy. Alice, who has taken on the traits of the friends who were murdered, confronts Freddy and uses the power of the Dream Master to release all the souls Freddy has taken; they subsequently rip themselves from Freddy’s body, killing him in the process. Picking up shortly after the events of The Dream Master, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child involves Freddy using Alice’s unborn child, Jacob (Whitby Hertford), to resurrect himself and find new victims. The spirit of Amanda Krueger (Beatrice Boepple) returns, revealing that Freddy was conceived when she, a nun working in a mental asylum, was accidentally locked in a room and raped hundreds of times. Amanda Krueger convinces Jacob to use the powers he was given by Freddy against him, which gives her the chance to subdue Freddy long enough for Alice and Jacob to escape the dream world. In 1991, Freddy made what would have been his sixth appearance in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). The film reveals that Freddy has a daughter, Kathryn (Cassandra Rachel Friel), who was taken away from him during his trial. Freddy sends the sole surviving teenager of Springwood to bring his daughter back to him. Freddy needs Maggie (Lisa Zane), who is unaware that she is his daughter, so that he can leave Springwood and create new "Elm Streets" to begin his killing spree again. Maggie, utilizing new dream techniques, uncovers Krueger’s past—child abuse, cruelty to animals, murdering his own wife, the moment the Dream Demons offer him eternal life—and eventually pulls Freddy out of the dream world. She uses a pipe bomb, embedded in his chest, to blow him up. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) focuses on a fictional reality, where Craven, Langenkamp, and Englund all play themselves, and where the character of Freddy Krueger is an evil entity that has been trapped in the realm of fiction by all the Nightmare films. When the films are stopped, the entity, which enjoys the form of Freddy Krueger, tries to escape into the real world. The only person in its way is Heather Langenkamp, whom the entity sees as "Nancy", the first person who defeated him. Langenkamp pursues "Freddy", who has kidnapped her son, into the dream world as "Nancy". There, she and her son trap Freddy in a furnace until he is finally destroyed.